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The Problem of English Evangelicals and Homosexuality: A Girardian Study of Popular English Evangelical Writings on Homosexuality 1960-2010

VASEY-SAUNDERS, MARK,RICHARD (2012) The Problem of English Evangelicals and Homosexuality: A Girardian Study of Popular English Evangelical Writings on Homosexuality 1960-2010. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

Abstract

English evangelicals in the period 1960-2010 have been marked by their negativity and violence towards gays. However, they have also consistently condemned homophobia during this period (and often seemed unaware of their own complicity in it). This thesis draws on the work of René Girard to analyse popular English evangelical writings and the ways in which they have implicitly encouraged violence against gays even whilst explicitly condemning it. This analysis of evangelical writings on homosexuality is placed in its historical context by drawing on the work of relevant historians and social scientists. It is further contextualised by reference to an analysis of evangelical writings on holiness during the same period.
The thesis argues that English evangelical violence towards gays is a byproduct of internal conflicts within English evangelicalism. Gays are seen as prototypical liberals and treated as scapegoats for an evangelical identity crisis. Homophobia and fundamentalism are discussed and rejected as alternative explanations. It is argued that the crisis in English evangelicalism in the period 1960-2010 has had a distorting effect not only on approaches to homosexuality, but also to other areas of English evangelical spirituality. Finally, evangelical atonement theology is examined, and found to contain both elements that legitimise sacred violence and resources to help evangelicals resist it.